Thermoplastic composites are becoming increasingly popular in highly cost-driven markets. Thermoplastic composites consist of a thermoplastic matrix combined with various reinforcing materials such as short, long or continuous glass or carbon fibers. Processes for the production of thermoplastic composites include injection molding, compression molding, tape placement, winding and thermoforming.

Due to the usage of continuous fiber-reinforced inlays, mechanical properties can be increased significantly in comparison with purely thermoplastic compounds. The ductility of the thermoplastic resin leads to high impact resistance and damage tolerance. Hybrid thermoplastic composite parts enable high functional integration and thus a high potential for cost efficient production. The functional integration can be achieved by injection or compression molding of short fiber reinforced compounds or welding.

The processing of thermoplastic composites can reach cycle times of one minute and below – defined by the cooling of the thermoplastic matrix – and therefore allows for high-volume production. Flexible manufacturing cells based on state-of-the-art injection molding machines or presses are used for production. Therefore, the same equipment can be used for various parts.

Thermoplastic composites require uncomplicated production processes as no adhesive resins or evaporations are involved. Furthermore, starting and stopping of processes is possible. This leads – in combination with quality-controlled semi-finished products – to a good reproducibility of the thermoplastic composite processes allowing for mass production of thermoplastic composite parts such as car body front ends or seat structures.

Meeting every six months, we work on the continuous improvement of technologies related to “Hybrid Thermoplastic Composites”. As a strong alliance, we define joint activities and generate new business by exchanging pre-competitive information between all relevant players along the value chain. The close connection to the broad research centers of the AZL network facilitates direct initialization of development projects.

Within the Joint Partner Project “Thermoplastic Tapes – Material and Processing Benchmark”, seven AZL Partner Companies addressed the dependencies between tape properties, processability and resulting part properties to extend fundamental knowledge for the initialization of a tape standardization initiative within the consortium. Follow-up projects on the correlation of morphology and mechanical properties of thermoplastic FRP laminates are currently under discussion.

The 18-month Joint Partner Project aims to develop a machine prototype for the feasibility of a novel manufacturing principle, which should be capable of producing tailored composite blanks in high volumes at medium investment cost. The project started in June 2016 with 12 involved partner companies.

The AZL forms an international lightweight network of 9 institutes on the RWTH Aachen Campus and more than 70 international companies involved in lightweight production. Learn more…

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